446 LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — AXSERES. 



return soiitli. was also iiiiknown. Tlioy were rarely seen on the coast of Hudson's 

 Bay south of 59° north. 



Mr. Bernard H. lloss mentions the fact that the Slave Lake Indians recognize the 

 difference between this species and both the cdbatus and the hyperhorrns, it being said 

 to arrive from the soutli later than the former, and earlier than the latter. 



A large number of individuals of tliis species were taken at Fort Eesolntion in 

 May, 1860, by Mr. Kennicott, and in ]\Iay, 1863 and 1865, by Mr. J. Lockhart. 



Mr. Blakiston ("Ibis," 1878) refers to a smaller White Goose mixed with the 

 flocks of A. hyperhoreus in Japan, which he refers to '•^A. albatus,^^ but which may have 

 been this species. Its local name was Ko-hakugan. 



Captain Bendire mentions the procuring a single specimen of this Goose on Silver 

 River in Eastern Oregon. April 12, 1876, but considered it a very rare species there. 

 It had been shot by Sergeant Kennedy out of a flock of twelve, and weighed two and 

 three fourths pounds. Its note was said to be quite different from that of the Snow 

 Goose. Other examples have been taken in Marin Co. and in other parts of Cali- 

 fornia, where its presence, however, is exceptional and rare. 



Dr. James C. Merrill informs me that this Goose is by no means uncommon about 

 Fort Missoula, in Montana Territorv. 



Mr. L. Belding, of Stockton, Cal., writes us as follows concerning this species : 

 " Usually associates with other Geese when in the San Joaquin Valley, especially 

 C. hijperboreus, and when flying individuals are sometimes scattered through a flock, 

 or, as is often the case, congregated on one side or other portions of it. I one© saw 

 about a hundred of these Geese in a separate flock, flying very high, and going north- 

 ward, the species being determined by its cry, which somewhat resembles that of the 

 small ' Cackling Goose ' (/?. canadensis le^icojjareia). In November and December, 1880, 

 it was quite as abundant in the Stockton market as C. hyperboreus — owing, I suppose, 

 to its tameness." Specimens of C. Rossi were observed at Stockton by Mr. Belding 

 as early as Oct. 6, 1880, and by the 15th they became common. Mr. Belding further 

 remarks that "the flesh of C. Rossi, unlike that of Geese generally, is excellent 

 food." 



Genus ANBER, Brisson. 



Anser, Briss. Oi-n. T. 1760 (type, Anas anscr, Linn., = A. cmereus, Meyer). 



This genus differs from Chen chiefly in the form of the hill, Avhich is much less robust, more 

 depressed terminally, the nails thinner and less arched, the tomia less divergent, etc. In fact, the 

 bill of some species is quite identical in form with that of the larger species of Bernida (canadensis 

 and Hutchinsi). The type of the genus, A. cinercus, Meyer, has the bill decidedly approximating 

 to that of Chen, the commissure gaping quite widely. But one species occurs in America, the com- 

 mon White-fronted Goose (Anser Gamheli, Hartlaub). The same species occurs also in Europe 

 in a representative form — the A. alhifrons, Gmel. The difterence between them is chiefly one 

 of size, the American bird being decidedly the larger. Another European species or race resem- 

 bling A. alhifrons, but much smaller, seems to bear to the latter about the same relation Avhich 

 Beniicla Hutchinsi or B. leucoparia do to B. canadensis. The following measurements from a con- 

 siderable series of specimens will serve to show the comparative size of the three birds : — 



